Carton forming machine



y 1951 L. VEYRET ETAL 2,551,186

CARTON FORMING MACHINE Filed Dec. 31, 1947 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 26 IV/////Afi /////////////A INVENTORS i Lac/Is VEYRETAND 30 z GEORGES Gn'mora BY v U :P

May l, 1951 L. VEYRET ETAL` CARTON FORMING MACHINE 5 Shee-ts-Sheet 2Filed Dec. 3l,` 1947 IN VEN TORS zaa/5 aman/vo z'oRess GEFFROY TTORNEX 3Sheets-Sheet 3 L. VEYRET ETAL CARTON FORMING MACHINE INVENTORS ATTOR/VEY m a na w R wo u May 1, 1951.

Filed Dec. 31, 1947 Patented May I, QS

UNITED ST ATES PAT ENT OFFIC CARTON FORMING MACHINE Louis Veyret;Neuilly-sur-Seine; and Georges Gefiroy; Paris; France, assignorstoLaCellophane; Paris, Franc, a French company' AppiicationDecember 31,194?, Serial No. '794,981 In Franceoctoben 21, 1944 Section 1, Public'Law 690, August 8, 1946 Patentexpires -ctohere21;. 1964 zrc ai s. cc.93-51) This invention 'elates tobox formingrmachins and. moreparticularly to amachine forfolding.

and, formingv open top cartonsfor, food:: products.:

or the like.

An objectof the invention is to providea machine for so foiding theblanks that in; the folded carton no open seams which require scalingextend below a predetermned level whichcorresponds to the level to whichthe carton is to be filled.

Another object isto provide amachineof the' above type which forms, thecartonina single' stamping operation.

Another object is toprovide a machine of the above type which isautomatic ingroperation.

Another object isto ?provide a machine'of the above type having noveland improved'detailsv of:

constructionand features of operation.

various other objectseancl advantages-;will'be apparent as the nature.of the invention is more fully disclosed;

In accordance With one embodiment of the invention, the machine includesa forming-;plate'` adapted to receive the ,fiat-blanks, whichvisgproVided 'With a central, generally,rectangularopen ing having anareacorrespondingto the bottom of the carton andtchaving-apairof;.triangular.

extensions at. each: end for foldingthe endjfiaps A piston ,conforminginsection to thebottom of opening to start thegfolds.

Sealing means, such as heated, rollers; are providedv for sealing theendseams of` the carton; before the finished cartonisremoved from the.

piston.

Although the novel eatureswhich-,are charac-` teristic of this inventonare pointed out more in detail in the claims, the natureofthe inventionWill be better understood by ,referring to the fol-- lowing description;takenin ,connection withthe;

accompanyng drawings, in which. a specic` em:-

bodiment thereof has been set forth for .the pur.-

pose of illustration.

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a perspecti-Vevievv of the finished .carton;

Fig. 2,is a top plan view :of theorming plater with. a fiatblankthereon;

Fig. 3 is a vertical transverse section taken along; th line 3- 3. ofFig. 2 showing the en'd folding, formin andsealing members;.

Fig; 4 is a vertical longitudinal section taken along the line 4-4of-Fig; 2;

Fig. isra partialhorizonta section takenalong the. line 5 -5 0f Fg; 3

Fig. 6 isaside elevation of a machine emloodyr-` ing the presentinventionadapted for hand opera-- tion Eig. ,7 is a top plan Viewthereof; Fig. 8 is adetail VeW- ofaasealing roller; Fig ,9-is a top planView 'ofa machineembody.-

ing the present invention designed for automatic` operation; i v

Fig. 10 is a-side elevation of a` portion Ofjhev machine of Fig, 9;

Figsell and ;mare detail views illustrating difr ferent-positions of theformin piton; and

Fig. 13 is .a section on an enlarged scal taken on the line l3 3 of Fig. 11.

Referring to the `.clraw ingmthe `carton is Ionned from e arectangularblank A of paper' or celli loic sheetrmaterial such as cellophane or thelike which. may. have heat scaling characteristcr The foldedwartohis:shown .in Fig. I asecomprising .fiat sides n., endsli l and a bottom12'. Each end l l 'is frmed` by an upwa-rdly foldedbottom flap.l3`h`aving atopjedge M anda pair `of sidev v fi'ap 13.and'overlapstoiorm a seamlTwhich is securedeby &suitable adhesive.` Thetop'fof the carton is. open to receiverthe' food oi" other products tobe incorporated therein The cartonflcontains nocseamsthatlrequiresealingebelow. the top..

edge. rof' the bbttomfiap.l3. Hence it made( liquidr-tight to` this'-pointbythe manner in which it isfldd. c The remandef of the sidsand'ends are foldedginwardly to' close .the. topjof th`epack age afterit has been filled to, the line 4."

The principles ,of operation ,of themachine 'are illustrated in F'igs.`2' to 5. Referring t th'e figures, themachine is shown asficomprisitiagflat rectangular forming ilat` 20 on '-Wh ich"'the sheet 'A 'is placed'.The plate; 20' isj provided 'with acentralfopen'nig 2l` defined `bystraight p'alfalll side' edges ab`and ef spaced :a art 'to 'conformft'thewidthfof ;the carton', and a pair, of trapzoidal j edges` bcde' and'Jaha at the respective ends' wjithj thevedges cd and gh' spaced .toconform to. the' lengthof the cartn. A pair of "fiat verticaliside,

brackets 2.3 `are-disposedbeneath the, p1at-2lll'^ in .the planeof theedges ab andej. A pairo fi vertical Linverted Ukshaped folding members25 3 of the plate and having edges forming the edges cd and gh abovementioned, with inclined surfaces 21, and with vertical surfaces 28which are spaced from the brackets 23 to provide clearance for thepassage of the end fiaps [5 and IB.

Beneath each member 25 a pair of triangular folding members areprovided, which are secured to the respective brackets 23. Thetriangular members 30 have inclined top edges 3l which project acrossthe ends of the carton from opposite sides and are curved to form asomewhat fiattened cup as shown in Fig. 5. The members 30 may be formedas extensions of the brackets 23 or may be attached thereto. Beneath themembers 30 are mounted rollers 33 and 34 which are journalled in thebrackets 23 and are adapted to seal the seams IT.

A piston 35 having a cross section corresponding to the interior of thefolded carton is adapted to slide vertically through the opening 21between the side edges ab and ef and the end edges cd and gh of theplate 20. The piston 35 is shown as having an Operating handle 36.

In the operation of this device, the fiat sheet A is placed upon theplate 20, as shown in Fig. 2, and the piston 35 is pushed downwardly toforce the sheet through the opening 2l. As the sheet passes downwardlythrough this opening, the edges ab and ef form the sides ID which arefolded upwardly and smoothed by the side brackets 23. At the same time,the end portions of the sheet are folded upwardly by the edges cd and ghto form the bottom end fiaps |3 and the e'dges bc, de, fg and ha,initiate the folding of the end fiaps l5 and 16 which then extendoutwardly from the ends of the carton. As the piston 35 advancesdownwardly past the members 25, the fiaps !3 are folded upwardly intoplace and the end fiaps [5 and IE pass downwardly between the edges 28and the brackets 23. As the piston continues its advance, the triangularmembers 30 engage the respective end fiaps |5 and IG and fold the sameover successively to form the ends of the carton as indicated in Fig. 1.As the piston 35 advances further, the carton passes downwardly With theseams l'l of the folded fiaps |5 and IE engaging the rollers 33 and 34.In the event that the sheet A is provided with adhesive.

38 at the seam areas, as indicated in Fig. 2, the rollers exert pressureon the folded fiaps to seal the seams. In the event that the sheet A isprovided with a thermoplastic adhesive, the rollers are heated to exertheat and pressure against the folded fiaps so as to heat seal the seamas the carton passes the rollers. The downward movement of the piston 35is continued until the entire carton passes the rollers and can beremoved from the bottom of the piston, after which the piston may beretracted and the forming operation repeated.

In the hand-operated machine, shown in Figs. 6 and 7, a supporting frame40 is provided, car: rying a pair of guide rods 41 which are mounted inbosses 42 and 43 secured to the frame and are inclined to the verticalas shown. The frame carries a supply table 44 on which the blanks arestacked. The supply table 44 is mounted adjacent the forming plate 20above mentioned. The plate 20 is mounted on a bracket 45 and lies in aplane perpendicular to the guide rods 4l. The piston 35 is carried by anarm 46 mounted on a carriage comprising slides 41, 48 and 49 and sleeves50 which are adapted to slide on the guide rods 4l. A rack 5l is carriedby the carriage and is adapted, toward the end of the forming stroke 4of the piston, to engage a pinion 52 mounted on a shaft 53 carrying theroller 33. The second roller 34 is mounted on a shaft 55 carrying a gear55 meshing with a gear 51 on the shaft 53 so that the two rollers 33 and34 are operated in unison as the rack l passes the pinion 52 during theforming stroke of the piston. The roller 33, 4

as shown more in detail in Fig. 8, is provided position by means of aspring 53.

comprise a ball detent engaging a recess in the roller to cause theroller to normally come to rest .with the fiat face 50 in registrationwith the path of the piston 35. The rollers are thus caused to make asingle revolution at each actuation of the piston and when the piston isretracted remain in operative position. The brackets 23 and members 25and 30 are similar to those described in connection with Figs. 2 to 4and have been given the same reference characters.

At the lower end of the path of travel of the piston, 35, a suction head63 is provided, having a perforated face 69 against which the bottom ofthe complete carton comes to rest at the end of the forming stroke. Theinterior of the head 68 communicates through a duct 10 and a valve llwith a section line 12. The valve 'H is provided with a control arm 73which is adapted to be engaged by a pin 14 on the slide 49. The arm '73is adapted to open the valve 'H and apply sucton to the head 68 from theline 72, when the pin ?4 trips the arm 13 on the downward stroke of thepiston and causes the valve 'il to cut off the suction and vent the head68 when the pin 'M is retracted past the arm 13 on its return stroke. Inthis way, the Vacuum produced in the head 68 causes the finished cartonto adhere to the face 69 thereof while the piston is withdrawn therefromon its return stroke. After the piston has been completely withdrawnfrom the carton, the arm 13 is actuated to cut off the suction and allowthe carton to fall from the face 39 onto a suitable receiver.

shutters 15 are hingedly attached to the sides of the head 58 and areadapted to be folded to engage the sides of the carton for retaining thesame in shape while the carton is held on the head 68. When the suctionis released, the shutters 15 are actuated to allow the completed cartonto fall from the head 68. For this purpose the shutters are shown asmounted on shafts 76 and 'H carrying meshing gears 18 and 79. The shaft15 carries a pinion 80 which engages a rack BI attached to slide 49. Therack el serves to shift the shutters 15 through a arc so as to fold themagainst the sides of the carton when the rack and piston are fullyadvanced and to turn the shutters parallel to the face 69 when the rack8! and piston 35 are retracted.

In the operation of this form of the invention, a fiat blank is placedupon the plate 20 and the piston 35 is actuated manually by grasping thearm 46 and pushing the piston and slides downwardly along the rods 4l.The downward movement of the piston forms and folds the carton asdescribed in connection with Figs. 2 to 4 and the completed carton isremoved from the piston by the suction head 58 as above described. Thepiston 35 may, of course, be actuated automatically by a suitabledriving means, if desired.

aas s e As the seams !1 pass the rollers. the latter are rotated by therac'k 5! for scaling the seam and the shutters 15 are actuated to holdand then release the carton.

In the embodiment shown in Figs. 9 to 13, a double-acting automaticmachine is illustrated. In this embodiment a web 82 is fed from a reel83 between feed rollers 84 and is severed into sheets of the desiredlengths by means of a pair of cutting knives 85. The sheet passesbetween two plates 28 which are of the type described above and each ofwhich carries the folding and sealing members 25, 38, 33 and 34. Thepiston 35 is adapted to pass through the plates 28 first in onedirection and then in the other so that alternate forming Operationsoccur on opposite sides of the machine. At the ends of the machine aremounted vacuum heads 86 and 81, respectively, similar to the suctionhead 68 above described. The heads 88 and 81 are mounted on plungers 88and 89 respectively carrying racks 98 and 9I, which slide into supports92. The rack 98 engages a pinion 93 mounted on a shaft 94 carrying apinion 95 which eng'ages a rack 86 on a slide 91. The rack 89 engages apinion 88 mounted on a shaft 99 carrying a gear !08. The gear !88 mesheswith a similar gear !!l! mounted on a shaft !82 carrying a pinion !83engaging a rack !84 mounted on the slide 91. The slide 91 i mounted toslide in supports !05 and is driven by a rod !06 connected to a gear !81mounted on a shaft !88 which meshes with a pinion !89 on a shaft !!8 ofa driving motor !2.

A second slide !!5 is attached to the slide 91 by means of a bracket!!6. The slide !!5 carries racks !!1 and !!8 which are positionedrespectively to engage pinions !!9 and !28 mounted on shafts !2! and !22respectively which actuate the roller 33 as above described. The pinions!!9 and !28 are preferably connected to the shafts !ZI and !22 byone-way clutches so that they are actuated only during the formingstroke of the respective racks !!1 and !!8.

As shown in Figs. 11 to 13, the piston 35 is provided at its ends withinserts !25 and !26 respectively of magnetic material and electromagnets!21 and !28 are disposed in the contacting faces of the suction heads 86and 81. Rows of orifices !29 and !38, through which suction is applied,are arranged around the peripheries of the electromagnets !21 and !28.

suitable means are actuated by the plungers 88 and 89 for controllingthe suction so that suction is applied to the heads 86 and 81 during thetime that the heads are withdrawing the cartons from the piston 35.switches may be actuated by the slide 91 for energizing and deenergizingthe electromagnets !21 and !28 at appropriate times.

In the embodiment shown, the plungers 88 and 89 contain ductscommunicating by flexible conduits !35 and !36 with control valves !31and !38 similar to the valve 1! of Fig. 7. The valve !31 and !38 havecontrol arms !40 and !4l actuated by spaced lugs !42, !43, and !44, !45carried by the plungers 88 and 89 respectively. The arrangement is suchthat when the lugs !43 and !45 pass the arms !40 and !4! on the formingstroke, they trip the valves !31 and !38 to suction position, and whenthe lugs !42- and !44 pass the arms !48 and !4! on the return stroke,they trip the valves to vent position.

For controlling the electromagnets !21 and !28 a switch !50 ispositioned to be actuated by lugs !5l and !52 on the slide 91. Theswitch i 6 !50 is a doublepole switch adapted at alternate' actuationsby the lu'gs !52 on the advance stroke (to the right) to energiz firstthe electromagnet- !21 and then the electromagnet !28 and upon actuationby the lug' !5l on the return stroke (to the left) to de-energize theelectromagnets.- The switch !58 is actuated by the lug !52 whenthe slideis in position to fully advance 'the heads 86 and 81 toward the piston35 and by the lug' !5! when the heads 86 and 81 are in piston releasepositions.

It is to be understood that the above control devices for the suctionheads and electromagnets are representative only and that any suitableautomatic controls may be used.

In the operation of this device, beginning with the position shown inFig. 9, the completed carton !55 has been withdrawn by the 'movement ofthe head 86 from the piston 35 and is held on the head 86 by suction.The piston is entirely free and is located to the left of the formingplates 2-0 so that a new blank may be inserted between the plates 20.

At the next operation as the plun'gers 88 and 89 and heads 86 and 81start their return stroke (toward the center) the lug !42 shifts thevalve !31 to cut off the suction from the head 86 so as to allow thefolded carton !55 todrop into a suitable receptacle. As the heads 86 and81 continue their advance, the head 86 engages the piston 35 and pushesthe piston to the right, as indicated in Fig. 11, thereby forcing thenext blank through the righthand plate 28 and past the forming andscaling mechanism located to the right of the plates 28.

At the extreme limit of their forward strokes, the heads 86 and 81 areboth brought into' engagement with the piston 35 which is then in itscenter position as indicated in Fig. 12. At this point, theelectromagnet !28 on the head 81 is energized by the switch !58, causingthe electromagnet !23 to attract the magnetic material !2-6 on thepiston 35. As the heads are retracted on their return stroke, theelectromagnet !28 causes the piston 35 to move to the right with thehead 81 until it reaches a position at which the carton has been fullyformed and sealed. At this point the piston is already separated fromthe head 86 but is still restrained by head 81 due to the action ofelectromagnet !28. When the electromagnet !28 is deenergized by theswitch !58 owing to the action of lug !5! acting on the return strokeonly, and suction is applied to the head 81 by the lug !45 tripping thearm I4!, the piston 35 is released from the head 81 and only the formedcarton adheres to the suction head. The piston is meanwhile immobilised.Further movement of the suction head 81 accordingly serves to withdrawthe formed carton from the piston 35. The head 81 then starts toadvance, the lug !44 trips the valve !38 to cut off the suction andallow the formed carton to fall from the head 81, a new blank is placedbetween the plates 29, and the operation is repeated, the carton in thisinstance being formed by movement of the piston to the left through theforming mechanism located to the left of the plates 20. It is thus seenthat as the piston 35 is alternately moved to the right and left, thecartons are alternately formed and folded on the right and lefthandsides of the machine. The operation is continuous and automatic.

Although specific embodiments of the invention have been shown anddescribed for pur- 7 'poses of illustration, it is to be understoodthatvarious changes and modfications may be made therein as will be readilyapparent to a person skilled in the art. The invention is only to berestricted in accordance with the scope of the following claims.

What is claimed is:

1. An automatic carton folding machine comprising a pair of spacedparallel plates adapted to receive a blank therebetween, said plateseach having a central opening conforming to the size of the bottom ofthe folded carton, a piston mounted to be reciprocated through saidopenings, members associated with each plate in the path of said pistonfor folding and forming the sides and end folds of said carton as theblank is advanced by said piston, a pair of heads supported for movementalong the path of travel of the piston, means reciprocating said headstoward and away from each other, electronagnets disposed in each of saidheads, magnetic material disposed in the ends of said piston tocooperate with the respective clectromagnets and means synchronized withthe movement of said heads for controlling the energization of saidelectro magnets to cause each head in turn to exert a magnetic force topull the piston and blank past the folding mechanism and then releasesaid piston, and means to strip the folded carton from said piston andthereafter release the carton, said head on its return stroke pushingthe piston to its central position.

2. An apparatus for forming folded open top cartons which are tight to apredetermined level fromfiatrectangular blanks, comprising a flat plateadapted to receive the blank, said plate having a rectangular openingcorresponding to the bottom of the carton and defined by side edgesspaced by the width of the bottom of the carton and eX- tending beyondthe length of said bottom to the full width of the blank, convergingedges extending from the ends of said first edges to the ends of saidbottom and transverse edges joining said converging edges and extendingalong the ends of said bottom to form a pair of triangular openings ateach end of said rectangular opening suited to old side end fiaps, sideguide plates extending downwardly from said side edges of said firstplate to receive the folded carton therebetween, and vertical invertedU-shaped end olding member attached to said transverse edges of saidfirst plate With vertical legs depending below the surface thereof andspaced from said side plates for the passage of the side end flapstherebetween, a piston having a rectangular cross section correspondingto the bottom of said carton adapted to pass through said rectangularopening for forcing the blank therethrough and a pair of foldng membersmounted below each of said end folding members to fold the side endflaps against said piston for forming the ends of said carton as thepiston advances, sealing means cooperating with said piston to seal thefolded end aps and means to strip the folded carton from said piston asthe piston is retracted.

LOUIS VEYRET. GEORGES GEFFROY.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,957,957 Hartman May 8, 19342,357,535 Monroe Sept. 5, 1944 2,399,934 Monroe May '7, 1946 FOREIGNPATENTS Number Country Date 654,136 Germany Dec. 14, 1937 1,116 GreatBritain of 1911 '735,439 France Aug. 30, 1932

